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our trip to south dakota: life on the frontier.

As much as I'd hoped the kids would sleep in after their late night arrival at Todd's parents' house, they were up EARRRRLY. Which ended up working out okay, I guess, since we had a full day ahead of us.

After breakfast, Atticus got right down to business acclimating to life on the frontier. It turned out he was a quick study.

The life of the frontiersman is full of hardship, toil, simple pleasures, and ATV's of all sizes.

The boys clearly take helmet safety very seriously.

They rode up into the woods with Papa Tony, and found a few cool and stinky treasures!

The girls didn't miss out on their opportunity to explore the untamed West, either.

The wind started a fight with their hair, but in the end their hair won. I think. Perhaps there was no clear winner.

Even hardy pioneers have to eat sometimes, so the kids came in for a hearty (and PRETTY!) lunch.

Todd, on the other hand, chose slightly different vittles. I'm pretty sure this is what Billy the Kid ate for lunch every day. Pioneering is hard.

And what was Rocco up to this whole time, you ask? He was sizing up his Papa Tony.

In the end, it was decided that there actually was room enough in this town for the both of them.

Then everyone napped (thank goodness!) and after dinner, we got up close and personal with the wildlife. First, we were visited by four deer at dinner time.

"There's a deer just outside eating fruit from the orchard!"

Then we loaded into the van for a drive through Custer State Park. We saw lots of deer, a few wild turkeys, and a herd of buffalo.

Also, this massive fella came lumbering out of the dark on our way home, so if you like reading this blog at all, you can thank your lucky stars that we saw him in time to slow down, or that might've been the end of my blogging days. And my days in general.

It made me proud to be an American: to brave that frontier highway in a place where the buffalo roam free, and majestic, and a little idiotic, and pretty brazen about it all, just like its human American counterparts. You guys, I AM that nighttime highway buffalo. Heavy stuff.

1 comment
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Hi! I'm Paige Van Voorst, homeschooling mom of six kiddos under the age of nine. We're quickly outgrowing our minivan - it's basically a clown car at this point!
Hang around as I navigate my way through the joys, frustrations, belly laughs, and ridiculous moments with all of these clowns.